In preparing secondary teachers, UA rates ‘excellent’

08/06/2014

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has ranked the undergraduate secondary teacher preparation program at The University of Akron in the top 14 percent nationally. Only 11 programs at Ohio’s colleges and universities received “top-ranked” status — a distinction awarded to 107 programs nationwide for “overall strong performance.”

In the 2014 Teacher Prep Review released by the council, all of UA’s teacher preparation programs ranked among the top 26 percent nationally.

The council’s annual review of teacher preparation programs focuses on the knowledge, skills and academic attributes newly graduated teachers need to be classroom-ready.

UA’s College of Education, which has been continuously accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education since 1954, is currently transitioning to the new Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) standards, says Dr. Susan Clark, interim dean.

Continuous monitoring is vital

“Our faculty and administrators regularly review a wide variety of program-related data to continuously monitor and improve the performance and readiness of our students,” notes Clark.

“While we appreciate the high ranking by NCTQ for our programs, we believe the accreditation process affords us the opportunity to tell a much richer story about how our candidates are prepared,” continues Clark. “We hope our stakeholders will continue to engage with us as we prepare for the fall 2016 visit of program examiners from CAEP.”

In addition to The University of Akron, the Ohio schools with one or more “top-ranked” programs were The Ohio State University, Miami University, University of Dayton, Cedarville University, Marietta College, Ashland University and Ohio Wesleyan University.

Founded in 2000, the National Council on Teacher Quality is a policy and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Learn more.